Camera Talk

Do not confuse "f stop" numbers with the old "Stop" numbers. Back when God was a boy, the amount of light transmitted by the lens of a plate camera was controlled by inserting a brass plate into the lens into which a hole of a certain size had been made. These were called 'Stops...

melek wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 26, 2021 8:52 pm

I read the answer once, but it's been so long that I can't remember. It has to do with math. Mike Kovacs would know the answer.

thanks

So, I get that larger f numbers like f/22 actually mean that it's a smaller opening and that smaller f number like f/2 is a big opening. But my question is this...WHY is the size of the aperture backwards from the numbers. Shouldn't f/22 be a big aperture since it's a big number and f/2 should be a ...